Schenectady’s police collaboration tackles de-escalation, the use of force and the fight against racism

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SCHENECTADY – De-escalation strategies, the use of force and commitment to anti-racist training were part of the litany of topics discussed during Wednesday’s monthly collaboration on police reform and the reinvention that stems from the reform plan of the city sent to the governor earlier this year.

During the virtual meeting, Police Sgt. Matthew Dearing said he and Sgt. Zachary Weakley trained all of Schenectady’s police officers in de-escalation on Monday. The two sergeants undertook an eight-hour certification program through the Force Science Institute and, in turn, trained the entire department. The sergeants also formed the public security department at the College of Saint Rose.

According to the institute’s website, containment, control, contact and communication are the conditions for effective de-escalation.

After the meeting, Chief Eric Clifford said the ministry had already instituted de-escalation training at the Zone 5 Regional Law Enforcement Academy as part of basic school training.

During the meeting, Reverend Lynn Gardner of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady asked if it was possible for the police to train local residents in de-escalation. After the meeting, Clifford told a reporter the idea “absolutely” had merit.

“From a procedural justice perspective, we want to build the community and treat people with dignity and respect to give individuals a voice to convey trustworthy motives and remain neutral,” he said. “We want the community to know what they can expect from us. But at the same time, it would make our work easier if the community also put these four principles into practice. “

Clifford said it’s also important for the community to know how far police will go to defuse a situation, as the public often only sees the end result of an interaction.

“Most of the time when we have to defuse a situation, the person we’re defusing them with either has a mental illness or is intoxicated to the point that their mental capacity doesn’t allow them to think properly,” the chef said. .

“So I don’t think de-escalating training will help prevent people from needing de-escalation,” he said, adding that the training would at least help develop a level of public understanding.

Clifford said that without the collaboration meetings he might not have sought this particular level of training.

“Through those conversations with the collaborative, it got us thinking more about de-escalation to a higher level. Not that we’ve never thought about it before, but just on a higher level.

He said Dearing and Weakley called the institute’s training the best they’ve ever received.

“They came back and they were like, ‘We have to give it to the whole department.’ “

Use of force

The police department shared six years of use of force data with the John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety in Albany, but based on Schenectady’s previous form of reporting, according to director Robert Worden, member of the collaboration.

The institute identified 90 to 100 cases in which a Taser was used, which wasn’t necessarily many over a six-year period, Worden said.

But the data needs further examination and additional information before the institute can begin its analysis in earnest, looking at trends for each agent, among other categories, Worden said.

Worden said the institute would look at the models “from every angle we can apply to the use of force data,” and he hoped the analysis would be done by the end of 2021.

Earlier this year, a state report suggested that municipal police used force more often than their counterparts in large cities, although the then chief questioned the consistency of the reports.

The report released in July by the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services showed that Schenectady police used force 90 times during the study period from July 2019 to October 31.

This was significantly more than the Albanys 36 and Buffalos 52 incidents.

Clifford had said the department included incidents at the lower end of the force continuum, such as when a subject does not comply after being told they are under arrest and must put the hand behind the back.

In these cases, the subject could straighten their arms or pull away from the officer, and the officer would then bend the subject’s wrist and forcibly handcuff the person, Clifford said.

After the meeting, Clifford said the Finn Institute’s review of Schenectady’s use of force would be helpful because while Clifford has a background in statistics, he is not a social scientist.

The use of force has been a matter of concern to members of the town’s black and brown community following last year’s review of a fight between patroller Brian Pommer and a resident of the city. city ​​Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud.

The officer put his knee on the Guyanese man’s neck during a wrestling and, following a nationwide review, police said they were banning knee strangling and gripping.

But the police then looked at the policy and decided that, in the interests of officer safety and for reasons of liability, they would continue to allow an officer to put their knee on a subject’s head when they did not. there are no other options.

This level of strength would be appropriate if the officer is alone with a combative subject and needs to keep his arms free, Clifford said.

Anti-racist training

The ministry agreed to implement anti-racism training as part of the collaboration, and in the first of a two-phase approach, Clifford said the ministry implemented a 30-week challenge in which officers are tasked with a weekly task such as reading an anti-racism article or watching a video. For now, we are at week 10.

At the same time, the department aims to set up a training block for its continuing training with agents.

“I firmly believe that many officers, mainly probably most of my white officers, do not understand what it means to be anti-racist,” Clifford said. “Until the moment we started talking about it, I will openly admit that my definition and my thinking of anti-racism was wrong and that by simply avoiding the topic and saying that I am not participating in it, I thought that I was doing the right thing when in fact what you need to do is speak out against it, if you will. “

The collaborative is always thinking about who would lead the training.

“We’re having a hard time finding coaches,” Clifford said. “As such, a lot of them are business-based, not law enforcement or government. “

Reverend Nicolle Harris, president of the Schenectady branch of the NAACP, recommended Diedre Hill Butler, associate professor of sociology at Union College with a background in diversity and inclusion, to help identify a trainer.

City Councilor Carmel Patrick suggested the department consider Kathleen McLean of the McLean Group, a consulting firm that has partnered with various local organizations on diversity, inclusion, team building and leadership development.

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